A 16-year-old girl who caught a cold during a school trip to New York was kicked off her flight home because she was coughing.
Rachel Collier was removed from the Continental Airlines plane as it was about to leave Newark, N.J., for Honolulu earlier this week. She had fallen asleep after boarding the plane with about three dozen classmates and woke up coughing and gasping for breath as it was about to take off.
The flight attendants gave her water, and a doctor on the flight said she would be OK to make the 10-hour flight. But the captain returned the aircraft to the gate to drop off the girl and one of her teachers.
Rachel said she started crying when the captain told her to leave. She and the teacher finally made it home the next day.
Teacher Maile Kawamura, a chaperone for the spring break trip to New York and Washington, D.C., said she was shocked. The two didn’t know what to do or where to stay, she said. They finally found accommodations in New York and bought clothes and toiletries.
First of all….I was on the plane….the girl was having trouble breathing because she was coughing “uncontrollably” . The AP report was written by some expert on the ground……not by the doctor or the flight attendants that dealt with the girl…….do not believe ALL that you read …..it’s not even close to the truth. the girl called her parents from the plane before she got off…..the teacher stated that she had family in the area to stay with. The captain never saw the girl but did make the right call……the girl was not in any condition to travel for 10+ hours and would any of you experts feel the same way if you happen to have been be seated next to this sick young lady for 10 hours……I think not.
Another story says that the girl and her teacher were compensated by the airline for the expenses they incurred while they were stranded. Whatever the reason for asking her to leave the flight, I think the airline has more than made up for any possible inconveniences they suffered. I think these people should be thankful for the help they received and quit their bitching.
All you people crying about how unfair it is to the girl are foolish—I’m guessing you’re mostly liberals.
First of all, read the whole news story. Then, understand who wrote it and what bias they’re putting on the story—-isnt’ it clear to you that the author is coloring the story to make the girl look like a victim? Isn’t it clear that there is a good amount of information missing in order to understand the situation fully? Consider that “a doctor” said she’d be ok—-what kind of doctor? Did the author verify this person was a doctor, or is this hearsay? Even if he WAS a specialist in respiratory or infectious diseases, don’t you realize that pilots are trained specifically to identify health risks on their planes?
Learn to read, folks, and stop assuming all authority is “out to get you”. Believe it or not, you’re not being “kept down by the man”.
If the girl, was in such a bad state surely the responsible thing would have been to get the girl aid after she came of the plane but of course airports are their to make money not look after people. If she was unwell enough for somebody to send her of the plane then surely its done for her safety not because of the “horrible” pilot just a bit of after care would probably be good.
Cheers
David.
I would have had sex with her. You can’t cough with a full throat.
If the girl had gotten very sick during the flight, that airline would have been sued and the captain maybe fired. Other passengers were probably complaining about the coughing and germs as well.